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Wichita City Council District 1

The Wichita City Council provides policy direction to develop, implement and maintain services to residents. The council enacts laws and policies, and also sets the budget, levies taxes and appoints residents to advisory boards and commissions. Council members, who are elected by district, earn $34,870.
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    James Barfield

    Business Owner
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    Lavonta Williams

    City Council Member
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James Barfield
Lavonta Williams
  1. Biographical Information
  2. The city’s budget is at deficit this year, and more cutbacks probably will be needed. Where do you think the city can trim expenses, how much money do you think that could save and how do you think it would affect residents? Please be as specific as you can.
  3. City council members make decisions involving millions of dollars and thousands of lives, all the while pressured by special interests, staff recommendations and your personal feelings. Please explain how your experiences in your job and education qualify you for the job.
  4. If you are elected, what is the first new initiative you would advocate for in your district, and how would it improve people's lives?
  5. What is the worst decision the City Council made in 2008, why do you feel it was the wrong move and what would you have done differently?
  6. About half of Wichita's streets are riddled with cracks, potholes and lumps. The city’s Public Works Department estimated last year that it would cost about $100 million to completely fix them all. Do you think additional money should be allocated for road repair? If so, please be specific about where the money should come from.
  7. The city has increasingly used tax increment financing to help private developers build downtown. Please describe in detail under what scenarios you think TIFs are appropriate.
  8. The city has struggled for years to make a decision about the Wichita Boathouse. It recently issued requests for proposals. What would you like to see there and how do you think residents would respond?
  9. City Council members recently discussed problems with pit bulls. City staff offered three possible options: a pit bull ban (those with pit bulls already could keep them); new restrictions, such as requiring them to be sterilized and microchipped; or the status quo. What, if anything, do you think should happen?
  10. The City Council has considered shifting some of the tax burden from property taxes to a new 1-cent sales tax. It discussed putting the question to a citywide vote last year, but delayed a decision. How would you vote on that question?
  11. Wichita passed a partial smoking ban last year. The state legislature is considering a more complete ban that would supersede the city’s law. What is your opinion of the city’s law, which allows smoking in bars and other venues that don’t serve minors? Would you support or oppose a more complete ban?
  12. The city is working with United Way to set up up a one-stop center to assist laid-off workers. What else, if anything, should the city do to help laid-off workers or to improve the local economy?
  13. Sedgwick County has said it expects all cities to franchise trash hauling by 2011. Wichita so far has not moved to implement franchised trash hauling, though some smaller cities have. Do you think Wichita should move toward franchised trash service? If so, how? Please explain your view.
  14. Blight is disproportionately prevalent in your district. What, if anything, would you change about the city’s approach and how could it be paid for?
  15. What is your opinion on the importance of neighborhood associations in Wichita?
  16. Do you think district advisory boards are a good resource for community input? Would you make any changes in how the DABs function or implement other ways for citizens to become proactive in city government?
  17. Please state, in detail, your position on open records, meetings and openness and transparency in gov-ernment.
James Barfield: The city budget will need to be carefully scrutinized and cuts made almost accross the board. However, police, fire and other emergency agencies will be excluded. The arts, some recreation areas, and other areas can produce quite a savings. To be more specific, I woull have to study the budget in detail.
James Barfield: My experience in life has taught me to think on my feet, use good judgement and NEVER cave in to special interest at the expense of others. Staff is not elected, so council members should do their own homework and make smart, intelligent decisions when dealing with public money and lives.
James Barfield: I would push for jobs in district one. The best way to improve someone's life, is to give them a job. A means of becoming self sufficient.
James Barfield: Voting for each and every TIF district that was presented to them was the biggest mistake. TIF districts in Wichita have not performed well, have caused millions to be removed from the CIP. This money was meant to be used for streets, sidewalks, sewers and other public safety programs.
James Barfield: As stated above, TIF subsidies totaling approx $68 mil. has been removed from the CIP. This alone represents more than half the estimated cost of repairing streets. The rest could be raised by putting a stop to money losing TIF's and loans to private developers.
James Barfield: At this point in time, only one TIF has paid it's own way, so it's time to place a moratoriam on all TIF district until the present ones are analized for past performance.
James Barfield: I feel the boathouse should be kept at it's present location, RFP's issued, OR, allow Bill Koch to retain ownership and allow the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame to utilize the building.
James Barfield: A "pit bull" ban would not solve the dog problem in wichita.New and stiffer restrictions of ALL dog owners would be moving in the right direction. Dogs running loose must be prohibited. However, this must apply to all dogs, not just pit bulls.
James Barfield: I would have to study the pros and cons of such a move before making a decision.
James Barfield: As a non smoker, I am not fully informed regarding the laws on skoking.
James Barfield: I am not sure about the one-stop center. To improve the local economy, the city should no longer continue to put all of it's eggs in one basket. It is past time for Wichita to reach out to other industries to locate or relocate to the city. As we have seen so many times, the aviation industry has it ups and downs. Me must diversify our economic base.
James Barfield: No, I do not favor replacing independent trash haulers and putting them out of work.I am in favor of allowing the free enterprise system work. If the customers are not satisfied by the service of one hauler, they have every right to discontinue their services and replace them.
James Barfield: First of all, the city must be more willing to work with "cooperating" landowners and less willing to demolish repairable houosed in the district.Often times, home owners don't have at their disposal monies to make immediate repairs. If these people are showing good faith efforts to improve the properties, the city should reach out to them beter.
James Barfield: Some neighborhood associations do more to antagonize neighbors and less to try to work with neighbors. Showing neighorbly love is always better than attempting to force your way on others. Now, this does not apply to all neighborhood associations. These associations sometimes overstep their authority.
James Barfield: I will certainly push to have district advisory boards elected as opposed to being appointed. Too many times, these district advisory board members feel obligated to go along with teh council members wishes. As such, the city does not get benefit of having an independent opinion from these members.
James Barfield: Openness in government is a must. Transparency in governmust is certainly a must. All public information should be available the the public and decisions regarding public monies must be made in public and not behind closed doors.
Age: 69
Education/Degrees: High School Graduate
Community Involvement: Wichita Racial Profiling board, Kansas African American Affairs Committee
Political experience: Ran for city council previously, Former MAPC member, elected to CPO, Precinct committeeman
How long lived in district: All my life
Campaign Phone: 316-685-5508
Web site: jamesbarfield.com
Lavonta Williams: The recent decision to delay hiring, limit overtime and reduce contract labor should help us address the shortfall. In addition, we need to evaluate each Department to look for waste and opportunities to cut back through streamlining processes such as cross training. The City can also do a number of additional things not to impact basic services such as delaying capital projects and maintenance, freezing pay increases, reviewing core services and evaluating travel costs and conference fees.
Lavonta Williams: As a community advocate for the past 35+ years, I put a great deal of weight on the input I receive from neighborhood association leaders and residents. We have 30+ neighborhood and homeowners associations in District 1 and those leaders and citizens are invited to meet monthly with me at District 1 Coalition meetings. The opinions and feedback I receive from grassroots groups keeps me in touch with the residents in my District and helps me to understand their perspective on city issues.
Lavonta Williams: I would explore partnerships that could lead to job skill training and eventually employment. This would definitely improve the quality of life for those who are currently unemployed or those who have been looking for jobs, because this would contribute to their financial stability. Unemployment affects everyone in the family and in many cases affects the neighborhood as well. Jobs are needed for our young adults and our senior population as well.
Lavonta Williams: Moving forward on the CORE Project with a developer who had legal and financial problems was wrong. Fortunately, it led to a vetting policy that will avoid that in the future. The most controversial decision was the loan to the Warren Theatre. A no win for taxpayers because of decisions by a previous Council, my decision to be supportive saved the taxpayers from being stuck with bond repayments had the theatre closed and was based in part on personal guarantees of repayment by the owners.
Lavonta Williams: The most important thing we can do is prioritize the needs. We cannot afford to fix all the current problems without a tax increase, and I am not willing to support that. I will continue to support fixing the areas of greatest need first. We also need to find more ways to engage the public on budget decisions to find out their priorities. I seek input on the budget from my DAB and neighborhoods, but I want to see if there are more ways to involve more people in the budget input process.
Lavonta Williams: I tend to support the use of TIF to remove blight where there is clear return on investment to the taxpayers like the Central and Hillside TIF where valuation went up by $8 million; the blight is gone and debt was paid off very quickly. That said, we need to develop a policy that verifies projected value increases, requires personal guarantees or other security from developers for shortfalls, limits the timeframe or caps amounts collected, and is more restrictive in how TIF funds can be used.
Lavonta Williams: I hear overwhelmingly in the community that the Boathouse needs to remain standing, and believe it is right to have requested proposals for possible uses even though the process has been frustrating and the decision wrongfully delayed. This is a clear opportunity for community engagement and I urge citizens to weigh in on what they would like to see. Hopefully we will receive several proposals that are viable and will be profitable and will see action quickly under our new city manager.
Lavonta Williams: I do not support banning pit bulls or any other breed-specific dogs. We must, however, provide more resources to enforce laws regarding illegal breeding and should consider limiting the number of dogs an individual can own short of those with breeding licenses. We need additional dialogue on whether and how to regulate breeding, microchipping and required or encouraged sterilization. There are additional creative solutions to be found with the help of animal groups, veterinarians and others.
Lavonta Williams: I do not support any tax increases regardless of source. Shifting the burden from property taxes to sales taxes might make sense in theory, but in times such as these where sales tax revenue is dropping rapidly and significantly, we would not be able to fund essential government services such as public safety and infrastructure. The sales tax is an unpredictable revenue source and it would be extremely difficult to run government efficiently without stable income streams.
Lavonta Williams: I support as little government as possible and prefer government at the lowest level possible. Therefore, I support “home rule” wherein state law does not supersede laws made at the local level. I also believe that the partial smoking ban enacted by the City was a good balance between trying to protect public health while also respecting the important rights of private business owners. So far, business owners tell me that the ordinance has not negatively impacted their business.
Lavonta Williams: We work aggressively to bring new companies and new jobs to Wichita through GWEDC and we must continue to support this as our #1 initiative. We also need to make sure to keep our city jobs for contract (construction, engineering, etc.) available for completion by local companies. Additionally, we need to start the conversation with service providers about whether we can offer laid-off workers reduced rates for water, heat and other essential services.
Lavonta Williams: We have not yet had enough communication with the necessary parties to determine how to save money for taxpayers while also protecting haulers and their jobs. I support a committee or engagement process that will assist us in weighing and reviewing all options in order to meet those objectives. It is also important for people to remember that this issue is the responsibility of the County and so far they have pushed back or moved any meaningful change in recycling or trash hauling.
Lavonta Williams: 1600 housing cases have been resolved in District 1 since the beginning of 2006 along with 184 dangerous building condemnation cases and 259 emergency board-up cases. But we must do more by engaging a willing private sector that has thus far not been engaged. I support working with the building community to assist with additional long-term solutions and bringing together all stakeholders to discuss how more can be done with existing resources.
Lavonta Williams: As a longtime member of the active neighborhood community, I have had the pleasure of working with people at the grassroots level to implement very real change in our quality of life. That’s one of the many reasons I remain involved with several neighborhood associations as well as Wichita Independent Neighborhoods. I believe in government “up,” not “down” and working in neighborhoods keeps me in touch with the people of District 1 and helps me to best represent their interests.
Lavonta Williams: District advisory boards are one of the many excellent ways in which citizens can engage with government. I work with my neighborhood leaders in finding committed members to serve on the District 1 DAB and we have had great success in growing leaders. I would like to see additional tangible programs and projects for our DABS, so it’s not just advising, but engaging the community whether that is through community projects, policy changes or other special programs.
Lavonta Williams: I am a strong supporter of open and transparent government, meaning that I believe we have an obligation to release as much information to our citizens as possible, as early as possible. There are some exemptions from mandatory disclosure laws but short of those, records should be open and easy to obtain. I urge citizens to stay as informed as possible by reviewing Council agendas, attending DAB and Council meetings and by communicating with me and other Council members.
Age: 60
Education/Degrees: Bachelor of Science in Education
Occupation: City Council member
Community Involvement: •Member – KenMar Neighborhood Association, Wichita Independent Neighborhoods (and others) •Member – Criminal Justice Committee •Member: Youth Activity Advancement Alliance •Member: Inter-Faith Ministries •Member – Kansas Community Education Association •Member – Health & Wellness Coalition •Member – Regional Economic Area Partnership •Member – Community Housing Services Board •Member – Visioneering Wichita •Member – NAACP •Member – KPTS Board •Member – Arts Council, Arts Partners •Member – Kansas African American Museum •Member – National Council of Negro Women •Member – Wichita Downtown Development Corporation
Political experience: 1 1/2 years in city government position District Avisory Board Citizens Academy
How long lived in district: 59 years
Campaign Phone: 300-2009
E-mail: campaign@williamsforwichita.com
Web site: www.williamsforwichita.com

The Wichita Eagle invited candidates in some contested races in Sedgwick, Butler and Sumner counties to respond to questions about key issues. You can compare the candidates and their responses side by side, and create your own printable or e-mailable ballot. The responses are largely unedited and presented as the candidates sent them to us.